Buddy Rich Tonight Show May 1974 interview only 

Well, if he had a big personality, u'd like it, wouldn't u? He was the only drummer that ever played perfectly 100% of the time. His photographic memory enabled him to do that. U really have to be a drummer to know how & why he stood out from the rest. He had a difficult life & wasn't always happy. But he was always the greatest, & that alone is what got him thru it. That was something that couldn't be faked.

But I think it determines how much you actually know about showbiz itself. This is short for show business. Its another branch of the entertainment industry. If we saw all the dishonesty, deceit, and scandal behind those doors, I think we would be less interested... A great many of the entertainers probably have what is called Narcissistic Personality Disorder. With that, you get some kooky characters. Think about those that would do _anything_ to get to the top, I mean _anything_... I'm sure even if immoral. They want to be the center of attention, and they treat the ppl below them like shit. Government is full of shit, and they meet at the cross center of all the other bullshit which is the news.

Yes agreed...just so good he seemed grouchy etc when really he was just a perfectionist and indeed close JK Simmons character in Whiplash...inspired madman or just a very mad man.

I love Buddy's drumming but I hate his views on country music. Telling people it's only one or two chords and anyone can play it and or sing it is just plain arrogance. So what if he doesn't like country music he doesn't have to be a dick about it.

@@davidrichter9164 Yes, he said he was allergic to country music. There is good music of every genre. There are some country music artists who are incredibly talented.

Roy Beckerman : and he could “take you outside and show you what its like”

+Assassination Archives and Research Center You are welcome.

Assassination Archives and Research Centerl

That's Don Menza, tenor saxophonist extraordinaire.

Donald McDonnell That's the great Don Ashworth, not Don Menza , who looked nothing like him and which was already correctly stated .

!!!!

Agreed.

Weinberg is "great?" Maybe playing rock n roll w/ Bruce but limited jazz ability. Not much technique. Really can't swing. He said he was gonna quit when Springsteen called him. BTW, he led his band at the Rainbow Room, downstairs from NBC, for some time.

Eric Dreizen Weinberg is a great player but that’s just my opinion.

@@ericdreizen1463 Very true.

Richard B. Davis You state the obvious.

@@jimlaguardia8185 Buddy plays drums very well.

I agree. He could have, should have said it in a more diplomatic and respectful way.

Blues and R&B, artist aren't in the same "league" either, let's hear him bad mouth them. He was an amazing drummer.... But as an artist, he lacked soul, he mostly showed off. You know Charlie Parker probably the most important Jazz musician in history enjoyed "simple" backward music..... his virtuostic music definitely communicated soul !!!!

My pleasure.

Have any sources for this? Would be a really interesting read.

@@JMotiveMU Multitudes. If u want something in print, there's an article in the LA Times written by Leonard Feather, who knew him well, after Buddy died, where he talks about it. Can't remember the date but I sure remember the article. And I think I saw it online once.

Mixed Media : The Wonder--and Woe--of Buddy Rich : “TRAPS THE DRUM WONDER: THE LIFE OF BUDDY RICH” By Mel Torme, Oxford University Press ($21.95) By LEONARD FEATHER SEP. 29, 199112 AM "As a close friend of the subject, a skilled writer and a talented drummer himself, Torme is triply qualified to take on this biography. Remaining true to a promise, made to the drummer shortly before his death in 1987, to produce a well-rounded picture, Torme has done that--warts and all. "A drumming genius, Rich was a musical illiterate who could listen to a complex arrangement a single time and play it as if he were an excellent sight reader. He was also a foul-mouthed, foul-tempered, sometimes violent man whose feuds were legendary. He fought with his wife . . . with Frank Sinatra . . . with Tommy Dorsey . . . with his manager . . . with the Internal Revenue Service . . . and with the men in his band, whom he treated without mercy. His disposition was not helped by an abusive father." Again, Buddy never bragged on himself about how he could do that, something no one else in the world could do. He shrugged it off but he was in fact a freak of nature.

Having great memory is a very underrated ability to have even outside of music but man, buddy’s ability to simply remember incredibly well molded him into what he became. He could have become anything but happened to stumble on drumming as a child.

@@ericdreizen1463 Thanks for submitting this; I was just about to. And Mel Torme is a great drummer, too.

+erzug Me? Buddy Rich fan? You, my friend, as they say, have a firm grasp of the obvious! About this particular video we have my brother-in-law Gary to thank. Thanks Gary! My local cable company doesn't carry the channel - Antenna TV - that was rebroadcasting the show, but Gary's does. So I called him and asked if he would please figure out how to copy the show to an MPEG4 file. As you can see, he did a fantastic job! As far as having an endless supply of BR vids... not true, but as I have said before, I started collecting around 1980 and have been doing so ever since. That's a long time!

I do have Antenna TV (OTA 17.2 - don't have cable) and Carson is on every evening. Must have missed this show.

+erzug I got you covered!

@@cloudview747 how many times did Buddy appear on the tonight show ? Did any else appear more than him? I was in the audience for the show on 4-13-76

@@stevesmith9221 Wonderful that you were there for the 4-13-76 show where Buddy played Ya Gotta Try!! (Don't have a video copy of that show unfortunately) Regarding how often Buddy appeared on The Tonight Show, here's some examples: 1976: 4 times 1977: 4 times 1978: 3 times 1979: 5 times 1980: 7 times

Definitely. It is so frustrating and disappointing.

Right. Previous to 1980, Johnny's show was 90 minutes so those are fun to watch.

+Mr DDD3az Yes a shame the performance was cut. I just shook my head and said: You've got to be kidding me! But actually I shouldn't be surprised, if you know what I mean.

erik smith Buddy answered him, twice and Johnny was NOT "interrupting Buddy", he was simply emphasizing how unique it is. Buddy very clearly said: "I don't know, that's the way I do it...... I don't know, I've been doing it that way all my life." He clearly said: "I don't know," not once, but TWICE ! His answers were only a couple of words, because Buddy never had a clue how he did it, and certainly not because Johnny interrupted him PERIOD ! With Buddy's mouth, NOBODY would have stopped him from eventually explaining that if he had an explanation. Maybe buy a new pair of ears. Buddy let Doc try his hand at explaining it precisely because Buddy never had a clue about how he does it. It's like asking someone with eidetic imagery , how they look at a page for a few seconds and have the whole thing memorized. They're born with the ability but have no idea why or how they do it. Buddy did, in fact, have an "audiographic memory", which is extremely rare , and cannot be explained by anyone who has it.

@@Marathonracer I'm going to go with "patterns." If you want to get better fast, play anything with anyone who asks you. If you're a drummer, they don't know the difference between a great one and a bad one, anyway. If you have a bad bass player, NOBODY will know you suck as a drummer. The pattern is going to go usually one way. You can see it coming. If that fails you, shoot for feel. When the pocket feels bad, switch it up. This is, I believe, how it could be done fairly easily. 90+% of drummers ignore a bad pocket and the wrong feel. If you listen and switch it up, you could get by without ever reading a chart much of the time.

@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 What the hell are you talking about??? Duh. You better just be joking, in which case it's hilarious. Otherwise, take a lesson, smartass, because this is about great drumming with a big band, not just banging on pots and pans, or getting by with a musically illiterate , rhythmically challenged band which has no business playing in front of an audience . Evidently, you're not following this very well and have great difficulty with your reading comprehension, as well as insisting on displaying your profound ignorance of Buddy Rich's genius and his audio version of near eidetic imagery, commonly misnamed " Photographic Memory", which is audiographic memory". and which is precisely how Buddy Rich was able to memorize entire complex charts after only hearing them once or twice and know were every accent goes, every break, tempo changes, etc., and, combined with his phenomenal natural talent , know exactly how to drive the band. You don't learn charts by world class arrangers by just having a feel for "patterns" or a "feel for the pocket". The fact that you actually think "This is, I believe, how it could be done fairly easily. " is hilarious and really kinda stupid. That's how tenth rate amateurs play, not real drummers, who need to know how to READ and what constitutes good drumming . For Buddy, who couldn't read note, despite Henry Adler's best efforts to teach him to read , his phenomenal auditory musical memory was how he did it. And of course, on top of memorizing the chart, was his phenomenal ability to interpret the chart. Period. Same with Chick Webb, btw, who also couldn't read music. If you had told that to Louie Bellson, or Gene Krupa, or Jo Jones, they'd laugh at you and tell you to study with a good teacher. This has nothing whatsoever to do with "patterns' or any other ridiculous pretentious crap you seem to think makes you sound like you know about how to play anything more than a kazoo. There is no way in hell that you can learn where every single accent goes in complex chart, just from "patterns". And your bullshit about "pockets" and "switch it up"is nothing more than typical adolescent, amateurish modern day shit which no self respecting drummer in Buddy's day would ever talk about, nor would legendary teachers like Joe Morello . Good drumming is about far more than just "pocket " or "groove", it's about how the rhythm fits into the song, including accents, phrasing, dynamics, solos, tempo changes and especially how to play to bring out the BEST in the OTHER musicians. And knowing how to bring out the best in the other musicians is an instruction from no less than than the legendary Baby Dodds, who influenced Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and most great drummers who came after him. Henry Adler tried to teach Buddy to read but Buddy wouldn't practice it and was always on the road, so he never learned how, but his incredible and extremely rare memory, allowed him to get away with it. No wonder you guys can't play ! LOL

I remember watching a segment of him on 60 Minutes and he was good. Had Buddy Rich giving him pointers!!!

K melodic He was, compared to BR.

Wow, that is surprising. I never saw that interview and would love to.

After hearing the bus tapes I can see why that was said.

Richard B. Davis It's an Egyptian Ankh

Warring a cross?

Wow. I had no idea ANY musician was with The Tonight Show Band from the beginning of Johnny Carson's tenure in 1962 to the end in 1992!

I only partially agree with you, and will explain. With Buddy I believe it boiled down to what the genre of music was. For some genres I feel certain he would very much recognize soul in the music. But for other genres like you say, he wouldn't recognize it if it bit him on the nose. And why? Because unfortunately he was closed minded and dismissing of those genres.

ericynot Marcelo Garcia “is one of the nicest guys on the planet” -Eddie Bravo

I don't agree with everything you say (I absolutely love Buddy's music and his playing), but I do agree wholeheartedly that great music does NOT need to be highly sophisticated. Therefore I also really disapprove and dislike Buddy's derogatory comments about country music.

Maximus Wolfe some people like intricate music and theirs nothing wrong with that but he is right about how we should innovate GOOD music and not shit music like lil pump or 6ix9ine

Check out his rant on Mike Douglas. Says Chet Atkins and Glen Campbell basically suck.

“People should listen closer to see how great my music is.” Haha. Most people are casual listeners. If something is on the radio, they will surely listen to it. Big Band is great, but how many horn solos can one endure? The drumming and orchestration is great, but technicality and emotional response to music have zero to do with each other. The root of drumming was quite basic communication. Good thing Buddy wasn’t alive to hear today’s “sweet hits”. Even he could not envision a Post Malone or Lil Jeezie. 😄

I was gonna basically say the same. If he heard the crap that the hip hop crowd are steadily cranking out today, he'd surely have forgiven C&W music by now. But he wasn't naive at all, as the OP said... he was just good at what he did, and knew it..... to the point of arrogance even. I'd like to have heard him confronted with "What about Roy Clark?", a man whose musical talent eclipsed Buddy's if you could line their apples and oranges up on scale. I believe Buddy's simple way of looking at less complex music came from the addictive high he got from it. Yes... complex beats, sophisticated arrangements, and with jazzy license to spruce it up however he wanted (as is typical with jazz jamming) it was stimulating and exciting to him. He truly enjoyed every be did because he threw himself eyeballs deep in the music and swam in it.... the intricacy exhilarated him. When he lived that all the time, it's no wonder that he became a snob for more basic and predictable musical arrangements. He could have been less of a dick about it, but that abrasive humor was part of his shtick.